


Summertime

by vexmybones



Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Mob, Cops and Criminals, Dirty Cop Bucky, F/M, Femme Fatale Natasha, Film Noir, M/M, Not Beta Read, Period-Typical Homophobia, Pining Idiots, Songfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-11
Updated: 2015-04-11
Packaged: 2018-03-22 08:13:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,742
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3721612
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vexmybones/pseuds/vexmybones
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A series of vignettes set in a Film Noir world of secrets and smoke...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Summertime

**Author's Note:**

> A little imp sent me Scarlett singing one of my favorite tunes in her jazziest voice and I was done for. So this one's for her. Listen [here](https://youtu.be/-OgvK3BWIUU) and enjoy.

_-Bucky-_

 

Everyone called her Miss. Scarlett, not only because of the fiery shade of her hair, but because of the deep wine color that painted her lips. Her voice was something fantastical, made you wonder if you weren't a little soused. It would soothe the savage beast and leave you with a feeling of a humid, heavy summer night, the kind that clings to your skin long after you've gone inside to cool down. Looking at her made women jealous, men moon-eyed, and both of them breathless and left to wonder why. She was a seductress and the word was coined just for her.

I'd never met anyone like her and I’d known from the first step inside of Stark's that I was doomed.  
  
' _…and the livin’ is easy._ '  
  
Through a haze of smoke and fancy chandelier lighting her voice hit me in the gut and wouldn't let go. Was this what it felt like to fall in love at first sight all over again? Was that even possible? With her, I thought so. Tonight she wore a gold dress that glittered like she'd just stepped out of a bath of Tony’s most costly whiskey, and a single dainty golden chain that draped downdowndown into her neckline. One day maybe I’d let her talk me into taking it back. But not tonight 'cause I've got a job to do.

Rogers knocking me with his lumberjack shoulder to get me moving is an unnecessary reminder.

"Watch it, Pal."

"We didn't come to ogle the ladies, Barnes. Let's go."

"That an order, Cap?" 

He rolls his eyes, I grin, thump a friendly hand on his back. It's just another Thursday night in New York.

 

- _Bruce-_

 

I’ve only got eyes for her, the dark-haired dame that smiles so prettily at me, like she doesn’t know what I look like turned inside out. That smile, she gives to everyone but I’ve seen it stretched around a moan, caught on a gasp. My hands have tangled in those mahogany curls that rest over her shoulder like they’re just inviting someone to mouth at her bare nape. Stark’s money might have paid for all that green silk that drapes her curves, but I know the weapons she carefully conceals.

That knowledge is all that locks away the monster behind my breastbone when those two walk in. They bring in with them a burst of damp and cool air and it makes me shiver. I suddenly feel caged.

 

‘ _Fish are jumping and the cotton is high…’_

 

“Here’s your drink, Dr. Banner,” she says with a twinkle in her eyes as if she could banish my thoughts with a mere whiff of her perfume, or it could just be my imagination.

“Thank you,” I offer her through a veil of smoke and her blood-red smile turns sly as her fingertips slide over my shoulder, her hips swaying hypnotizing to the melody in passing.

It’s a promise of things to come, a vow that we keep every Thursday when Miss. Potts lets Darcy skip out early, casting knowing eyes in my direction when I beg off from Stark’s card games. Why bet money I don’t have against a big-wig like him when I could be coaxing secrets out of his favorite waitress instead? Tossing the alcohol back I stand, not bothering to pay. They keep my tab open; perks of being friends with a bunch of criminals.

The ring in my pocket sits heavy and Pepper just grins at me from across the room as I turn to escape.

 

_-Tony-_

 

The whiskey burns a familiar path down my throat and I have to squint through the cigar smoke in front of my eyes to see the two gents striding up to my bar. The tall one is a looker, but he ain’t looking at me. Such a shame.

“What can I get ya?” It’s not my place to be running the bar tonight but image is everything. Pa always said you had to get your hands dirty sometimes.

“We’re here to see you, actually,” the dapper as Hades one with the same gleam in his eye much as the man himself says. Rogers glares, his mouth snapping shut on whatever speech he’d prepared. Barnes knew not to beat around the bush with me. I like it direct, just like everything else in my life.

“You seen Banner around? Boss wants us to bring him downtown for a spell,” Barnes strikes a match and lights up with practiced ease, his words laced with cursive smoke. Rogers just waits patiently, they have this good cop/bad cop skit down to a science.

“Oh, you just missed him, fellas,” Pepper’s smile is all sugar and steel, her arm sliding around my waist as she joins the conversation. “He isn’t in any trouble now, is he?”

“No, Ma’am,” Steve finally gets in a word or two. “We need his opinion on a case ‘s all.”

I know that’s malarkey soon as the Greek God says it. They’ve been after Brucie ever since they found out he’s friends with me. They think he’s the weak link in the chain, the softie. They couldn’t be more wrong. Bruce is a force to be reckoned with, an experiment gone terribly, beautifully wrong. He’s my secret weapon and I’ll be snuffed out long before they break him. My inheritance was more than a bar and I’m bound and determined to make my old man proud.

“Sorry, boys, how about a drink on the house for your trouble?”

Barnes nods, his gaze holding secrets that Rogers wishes he were privy to.

 

_‘Your daddy’s rich and your ma is good lookin’.’_

_-Steve-_

 

I don’t like the way Stark smirks. I don’t like the way Bucky leans on the bar to better hear the guy over the croon of Coulson’s horn. If it weren’t for Miss Potts at the scoundrel’s side I’d wonder what his intentions were. Don’t get me wrong, I know Bucky doesn’t need me at his side to filter the danger that he seems to attract; in the form of busty women, loose tongue fellas that liked taking risks, and shady types wanting to draw him into darkness. He didn’t need his old pal and constant shadow from childhood attached to his hip, but some habits were damn near impossible to break.

“Captain Rogers, you should come in on a night off and listen to the band, have a spin around the floor,” Pepper slides an amber colored drink across the bar top with her slow and inviting smile.

I'm polite enough to take a swig of the drink before declining.

“I’m almost never off, Miss. Potts, but I appreciate the invite.”

She at least has the decency to look as though she believes him. Her gaze is as astute as his Ma’s once was when he’d tell her that he fell down on his way home, clumsy like a new fawn on gangly legs. Neither of them ever believed his lies.

“Stevie here hasn’t been out since he got that fancy new office. I try, sweetheart, I really do but he’s all about getting the scum off the streets.” Bucky winks at Pepper and elbows Steve. He simply tosses back his liquor and blames the blush creeping over his features on the burn.

It isn’t that he doesn’t _want_ to go out and have fun, because he does. It’s not that he can’t get himself a dame, because he _can_ , these days. And it’s not for lack of money, either. No, the reason stands to his left, his attention already turned back to the femme fatale that’s weaving a spell on the night. He doesn’t know if his Ma would be disappointed or offer him words of pity. As much as it shames him, he doesn’t think he cares either way.

Being in love with his best friend was a torturous secret that he’d carried for half his life and he’d take it to the grave with him, too.

 

_‘So hush little baby, don’t you cry…’_

_-Natasha-_

 

The words are well rehearsed and the music swims around me and swells in gentle waves. The bar smells like smoke and my perfume and it’s a sorry crowd that stares up at me tonight. Usually Stark’s is roaring but on a weeknight it’s slow, to be expected, really. Jane and her sunny beau are in the corner neckin’ along with Maria and our occasional piano player Sam. Darcy’s flirting with Brucie like no one has a clue they’re an item, and Pep’s keeping a leash on Stark. Barton’s taken to playing the strings to my right, situated far back enough where he can no doubt keep an eye on my goods and whoever wanders inside.

Glancing over my shoulder at him as Coulson woos the crowd with a solo; I catch his gaze on its way up from my heels. His wink is wicked and promises all sorts of debauchery. I refuse to acknowledge the devious shiver that skates down my spine. He’s nothing but trouble, my kind of trouble. He’s one of two men that know all of my tricks, knows that tucked into my garter is a blade, and knows that I know how to kill a man in many different ways with it.

And would you look there, in walks the other bane of my existence.

 

_‘One of these mornings you’re gonna rise up singin’…’_

 

I have to resist the urge to laugh when Barnes narrows his eyes at me before Rogers distracts him. He knows my secrets and I know his, including the most damning one of them all. It swings from a chain between my breasts for safe keeping, never removed, guarded like the rest. Clint laughs at James every time we’re holed up together in my apartment, says it’s stupid not to tell Steve. Says it’s ludicrous to pretend he doesn’t see what’s written plain as day on his pal’s face. Barnes just drinks more and ignores that he bought his partner a promise he isn’t willing to give into just yet. When James leaves, Clint traces the ring against my skin and asks if I’ll ever want one.

_Marrying ain’t for me_ , I tell him and he sighs. He knows I love him and he knows I like my freedom with a healthy dose of danger. Maybe one day I’ll surprise him.

 

_‘…then you’ll spread your wings and you’ll take to the sky.’_   

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Oh my, my brain is a weird place at the moment. And this was so short. Hopefully it was worth reading, tho!
> 
> P.S. For those of you reading my WIP, I haven't abandoned it! I would never be that cruel. Due to birthdays (some still to come, including my own), migraines, The Walking Dead finale, and Easter I've been out of order. But never fear, I will have the next chapter out asap! <3


End file.
